::Friday, June 6, 2008::
For shame! It's been over a month? This will not do! I shall write an entry, even though it's past 1am and we are leaving for Las Vegas in about three hours, and my polished nails are not entirely dry yet.

So, Sophomore year of Pratt is done. Damn, that means I am now a Junior? Only two more years of college before I enter the working world? I can't say if I'm ready or not...as much as I want to be completely on my own, I just can't imagine myself yet in my own apartment, paying taxes and commuting to work. No, I still see myself bumming on the couch wasting my life on youtube and quirky cartoons. I'm doing the former right now.

So once Dad packed the last of my things and we hit the road out of Brooklyn, I realized that I was focusing so hard on perfecting my work, I didn't really plan out my summer. What the hell would I do for four months? I've been wanting to get an internship and I've built a resume, but I had no time to actually look for work! There was no way I'd work for Subway (which became Kosher for damn sake!) and I wasn't planning on being an art-teacher again.
Then a miracle happened. Mom calls up while Dad's driving to tell me that a long-time church friend is president of an Advertising business, and desperately needs people for a summer project he's working on. So once we come home and drop my bags, I call him up and tell him everything there is to know about me as a designer. While on the phone I realized I flail my arms around, even though the person on the other line can't see me....how the hell did I develop that habit? Anyways, the next day, I show my work, he shows me the projects, and...I get the JOB! Ha ha how sweet is that? The time I least think about my summer plans, then I immediately land a good internship/commission. What a praise!

So yeah, this past month I've been driving over my workplace, designing banners and websites. What really sucks is that this job requires that I learn Dreamweaver and Flash, the two programs I know the least about in the Adobe Creative Suite, so my boss told me to get books and read about them. It's like school all over again =/ yet its a blessing at the same time, since I'm learning new things.

Besides designing webpages, I've also learned some video capturing and editing. My boss also does videography for sweet sixteens, weddings, and most recently, expos. There was a huge Philippine Expo he was notified to do last minute and his regular crew couldn't make it so he hired me as technical director. This Expo was two days long, with business and sponsor booths surrounding the warehouse walls and in the center a stage where a variety of famous musicians performed. Basically while my boss and another cameraman were recording the events, I was in charge of what was displayed on the projection screen; switching cameras, superimposing their recordings, making sure the audio was even, and featuring commercials by different sponsors of the expo. Now since this was Philippine based, the musicians who performed are FAMOUS...in the Philippines. The most popular star featured was a singer named SAM MILBY. Once his name was announced, girls were literally jumping out of their seats, kicking and screaming. Of course, with my American cultured mind,I have no idea who the hell he is, but in the Philippines he's a big hearthrob who's acted in several movies. I haven't been in the Philippines for over 10 years so seeing how the culture is like now was a really cool experience. The only thing I hated about the whole expo was that I was sitting on my butt for about 13 hours both days. ><

Sigh, if only I had pictures to accompany all this...(which leads to my next story), but last week this poor Macbook suffered a major hardrive malfunction. Hey, I admit, I did NOT know Macbooks aren't supposed to go on a soft, blanket surface. I can't help if I like viewing my Macbook in bed. Anyways, the hardrive had to be replaced, meaning ALL of my work was gone. Thankfully most of my Pratt Spring semester artwork is backed up on my external hardrive, and the work I need to do for my boss is...redoable, but all of my personal stuff is gone. Meaning, over 500 of my precious photos are now lost *sniff*. All I have left are those I posted on facebook, photobucket, and the few I have on my camera. But all seems to be going well now, and I've learned my lesson. I'm typing this up right now in bed but the Macbook's on a flat surface. Haha.

So,that is a very quick, direct summary of my month. Now did I mention something about Las Vegas in the beginning? Kuya Bryan's wedding!! Woohoo! I haven't even met his lucky fiance, yet Monika and I are part of the entourage. I bought new batteries so I'm ready for some endless picture-taking, not only of the wedding, but of all the relative I miss, and especially my GODSON!!!
Hmm, it's almost 2am, and I'm starting to see less of a point to sleep, so I might as well continue being the bum I am and lean against the bedpost while watching 'The Office'. Yup.

::Wednesday, April 30, 2008::
Hookay...the intense load of work is winding down. Survey is on Thursday. The America/Reads Program is 99% done. I have no more studio classes so tomorrow is a free day. Time for new entry? Hell. Yes.

Sooo, how is everybody? If your answer is 'good' I most likely won't believe you. Everybody has something going on in his/her lives, that cannot be summarized into a simple 'Good'. It's a shame that Americans utter "How are you?" or "Wasup?" or "Hows it going" as a part of saying just "Hello". Most people don't really care about the answer to how you are, and if you answer it in elaborate detail, they'll just roll their eyes annoyance. I commonly see that when "How are you?" is exchanged when walking by someone. And I'm an idiot for dwelling too much on this.

I know I usually complain about my late hours, but now, living my nighttime by a set of digital numbers ceases to exist for me. Too often now do I sit down and work on a project then look outside the window to see the sky lighten up and hear some commotion down below. I judge time in a new way: between 2-4am, my body is on the bring of collapsing form exhaustion, with my mind completely spinning, but once it's 4:30, the exhaustion seems to pass right over, and I become fully awake. If I finished my work by seven, it's already too bright outside and I wonder if I should just skip sleep and wait until 9:00 for work or class. Thinking about it is what makes me fall asleep. This new concept is both weird yet funny, because once I wake up, the world looks as if I'm looking through soft lens.

These are the things that occupy my mind when I have nothing much to do at dawn. Maybe I should go to bed, and be good to my body for once.
And so it goes.

::Friday, March 14, 2008::
Interesting.

Full List of Stuff White People Like:

* #88 Having Gay Friends
* #87 Outdoor Performance Clothes
* #86 Shorts
* #85 The Wire
* #84 T-Shirts
* #83 Bad Memories of High School
* #82 Hating Corporations
* #81 Graduate School
* #80 The Idea of Soccer
* #79 Modern Furniture
* #78 Multilingual Children
* #77 Musical Comedy
* #76 Bottles of Water
* #75 Threatening to Move to Canada
* #74 Oscar Parties
* #73 Gentrification
* #72 Study Abroad
* #71 Being the only white person around
* #70 Difficult Breakups
* #69 Mos Def
* #68 Michel Gondry
* #67 Standing Still at Concerts
* #66 Divorce
* #65 Co-Ed Sports
* #64 Recycling
* #63 Expensive Sandwiches
* #62 Knowing What’s Best for Poor People
* #61 Bicycles
* #60 Toyota Prius
* #59 Natural Medicine
* #58 Japan
* #57 Juno
* #56 Lawyers
* #55 Apologies
* #54 Kitchen Gadgets
* #53 Dogs
* #52 Sarah Silverman
* #51 Living by the Water
* #50 Irony
* #49 Vintage
* #48 Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops
* #47 Arts Degrees
* #46 The Sunday New York Times
* #45 Asian Fusion Food
* #44 Public Radio
* #43 Plays
* #42 Sushi
* #41 Indie Music
* #40 Apple Products
* #39 Netflix
* #38 Arrested Development
* #37 Renovations
* #36 Breakfast Places
* #35 The Daily Show/Colbert Report
* #34 Architecture
* #33 Marijuana
* #32 Vegan/Vegetarianism
* #31 Snowboarding
* #30 Wrigley Field
* #29 80s Night
* #28 Not having a TV
* #27 Marathons
* #26 Manhattan (now Brooklyn too!)
* #25 David Sedaris
* #24 Wine
* #23 Microbreweries
* #22 Having Two Last Names
* #21 Writers Workshops
* #20 Being an expert on YOUR culture
* #19 Traveling
* #18 Awareness
* #17 Hating their Parents
* #16 Gifted Children
* #15 Yoga
* #14 Having Black Friends
* #13 Tea
* #12 Non-Profit Organizations
* #11 Asian Girls
* #10 Wes Anderson Movies
* #9 Making you feel bad about not going outside
* #8 Barack Obama
* #7 Diversity
* #6 Organic Food
* #5 Farmer’s Markets
* #4 Assists
* #3 Film Festivals
* #2 Religions their parents don’t belong to
* #1 Coffee

Asian Girls? HA.

::Thursday, March 13, 2008::
Ah ha! Spring break is very near. Last week I've been staying up until 4:30am sitting in the kitchen, surrounded with my laptop, sketches, krazy glue, razor blades, Ducco cement, illustration boards, colored pencils, and occasionally peanut butter and jelly and chocolate milk. I'm sure I've taken off about 5 years of my life, increased my chances of losing my eyesight, and endangered my roomates. Sue me for being lazy to find a proper spraying booth, with all the crap I need to mount, it's just not worth the travel.
Otherwise March has been pretty good to me. It's finally Daylight Savings time, and although we gain an hour, the brightness lasts longer; I find it depressing to have a pitch-black sky at 5:30pm.
And with the longterm projects I've been assigned, I've explored new things and gained new obsessions:

1) Politics.





Yes. I never thought I'd find myself typing this, but I'm already old enough to vote, so I better start getting used to being swayed back and forth by the candidates. Plus my Vis Comm. assignment involves the presidential race, so I had no other choice but to update myself on politics as part of my research. Of course it's just as messed up as I thought it would be, but it's interesting reading what they support, what they're against, and what they criticize the other for doing. Of course the Obama and Clinton fight is as confusing and as ugly as ever, and I don't know what my reaction would be if either one wins that Donkey nomination.

2) His Truthfully truthiness-ed Excellency The Most Honorable Professor Sir Dr. Stephen Tiberius "C-Train" Colbert, Esquire, D.F.A., SC, America's Newsman







God where the hell has he been all my life? I say anyone who can do deadpan comedic delivery is a hero to me. As much of a right-winged idiot he portrays, I bet he and Jon Stewart know more about politics than most politicians do.

3) Spring Awakening.







I always told myself I'd download the music. I can't believe I waited too long. The music's amazing!! Teenage angst! Adolescence! Abortion! Masterbation? It's life. And if a song can give me goosegumps and drive me to tears, it's definitely worth watching then.

Alright I'm getting sleepy. Hopefully I can squeeze in at least one more entry before Spring break's over. I feel bad that I can't pour enough of my life into this blog. I want to. Really. I do.

::Thursday, February 7, 2008::
Here I am, sitting in my dorm kitchen, my macbook in front of me, with the microwave clock reading 3am. I know that I should be sleeping, I know that work starts in 6 hours, but my mind is just unsettled.

To keep you a little updated, my class schedule has changed dramatically, because most of my first pick classes closed out early, and because Bursar Office is an ass: Monday is 3 classes in a row from 9am to 6:30pm. Tuesday is one class that starts 5pm. Wednesday is another 3 classes from 9am to (yes) 9:20pm. Thursday is classless. Friday is one class at 12:30pm. Being the workaholic I am, I decide to extend my work schedule to Tuesday 9-12pm, Thursday 9-5pm, and Friday 9-12pm.
Digital photography is only one semester, so now I'm taking Anthropology. My professor mentioned that he hasn't taught the course in years, and boy does it show. He is a very intelligible man but he drones on and on about God-knows-what. He doesn't 'lecture' about a certain society we are to study, but instead goes on long rants of anthropologists and research methods we are to use for the future, his 3-hour rant lacks a learning substance.

Of course with the changing classes I had to change teachers. Overall the new ones aren't bad, but my most effective switch is from my Visual Communication teachers. I loved my last semester teacher, he was knowledgeable, slightly comedic, and just plain likable. But now my new teacher -though I like the class atmosphere much better because everyone critiques and really help out one another- I'v never met someone so disheveled, literally plastered, and have this character about him that I find hard to respect. And that NEVER happens. Nonetheless I'll stick with him, in hopes that his crassness will toughen me up.

And now I must talk about work. Longer hours mean I have a lot more responsibilities, and with a boss like mine, who's mind is as sporadic and disorganized like her atrocious office desk, the responsibilities are WAY too overwhelming. Some obligations include hiring new tutors, overseeing over 100 timesheets, organizing language tutors, writing letters (because apparently I write good letters?) assigning workers if they have nothing to do, and the list sadly continues.
So with all this in mind, I find myself constantly writing a check list of crap that needs to be done. This semester is starting to get a lot more competitive, so I'd literally be up until 4am refining my work so it at least looks cohesive. Fortunately most of my teachers are pleased with my work so far, and that's all that mattes now.

I am not content. My mind is preoccupied with what I should be completing and not focusing with who I am now. I start to question what I really want, if I want to live this way, always worrying about work and knowing one wasted minute suffers a consequence. Pratt is squeezing out all my energy, taking away my time when I can just sit and be myself.
There's youth gathering this coming Saturday at 7pm, but I'll be working from 9-5pm and it takes me about an hour to reach the staten island ferry. What comes to my mind is that projects are due next week,and I'll be missing one whole day of not doing work. Why does it have come down to pushing even the youth aside? The thought of not having time to be still is disturbing.

I just want to be quiet.

I just need to be clear.

I really need to get away. Spring break is just too far away.

::Thursday, January 3, 2008::
Happy Belated New Year!

Jibjab is hilarious.



Hopefully Copyright Claims won't attacked. Just go to www.jibjab.com if you wanna see it legally.

::Friday, December 28, 2007::
Belated Merry Christmas and Advanced Happy New Year to you all. Most likely this is my last entry for 2007.
The Semester has gone by incredibly fast, I don't even know what I've learned. I did the assignments, my professors critiqued it, I improved it, then moved on. I'm pretty sure I learned something along the way...?

So I didn't go into detail of Sophomore Survey. It's a replacement of a Final Project, and basically all Sophomores are assigned a panel, generally 4 x 8 feet, and we would display 3 works from each Studio class, so that's about 15 projects. We are given from 7:45-9:30am to hang up and organize our work, and once we students clear out (security could LITERALLY drag you out), the professors come in and look over our work. Since the professors are familiar with our work from only one class, this survey is for the professors to see how we are doing with ALL our classes. Afterwards the professors leave the floor and have a long boring meeting, while the rest of us students are welcomed back to the floor and look at everybody else's stuff. In doing so, we take the opportunity to look at what projects we think we like and look at the professors they have, marvel at the students who have masterpieces, be taken aback by those whose projects are complete failures, and personally challenge ourselves in what needs to be improved.
Overall, it's not too big of a deal. The only stressful thing was making sure every work was reprinted perfectly, and the mounting is not horrid. I should add that if you do not show up and your assigned panel is empty, you automatically fail every single studio class.

So my panel somewhat looked like this:







My organization wasn't that great, because I was more concerned with fitting everything than the actual layout. Damn Siegel wanted me to hang up nine magazine layouts which were approximately 12 x 17 inches, and I also had a Sex -Ed poster that's 20 x 30 inches. But in the end it worked out.

So finally Fall 2007 is over. What have I been doing then? Well for once I'm being smart and started planning for summer internship. Where? Anywhere. Whether it'd be here in New Jersey, or out in Portland Oregon (where my cousin lives and knows people in a magazine firm). So I put together my resume. Otherwise, I'm relaaaaxxxiiinnggg.

For once being a bum this break is, what I can confidently consider, a 'well-deserved break'. Maybe it's because I'm cutting my break much shorter so I can work, and I cut it to around Christmas and New Years, days where there can be much movement in the house. You could find me waking up late, watching movies, browsing online, playing the Wii, or watching Jezreel and Monika dismantle parts of our belongings to create artwork.
Might I add that Super Mario Galaxy is FLIPPIN' AWESOME. I mean, flying through galaxies, circumnavigating though levels filled with various gravity effects, new mushrooms, and power-ups, compelling Final Fantasy-esque music (which differs from traditional cute Mario themes, but I guess is used to enhance the vastness and wonders of the games galaxies), all compacted into this one Wii CD. The video game makers are pure genius. Unfortunately I'm up to the point in the game which the the levels are seemingly impossible to clear. But it's still fascinating nonetheless.

Alright so I'm running out of things to say, so I'll just show pictures of me and the fam in New York for Christmas Eve.


Central Park Wolman Rink. Yay.


FAO Schwartz.


Christmas Eve in NYC is nothing without seeing the tree.


After NYC, we spent the rest of the Eve at Jezreel's. Hooray.

And now I officially depart with that song we'd usually sing during New Years: Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne!
I don't really understand what it means, but it's got that New Years ring to it =)

::Wednesday, December 5, 2007::
I know I know I know I know I know I know. I've been an ass for not updating. There has been so much going on and I've always wanted to say it here, but then it would be delayed because I want to come up with the best way to express it. But once I take my time in composing an entry, the opportunity is gone. So now I'm going back to my old ways of just writing down what's on my mind, so the entry will probably make less sense, and be less organized.

Here we go.

So now I'm Twenty. No longer a something-teen. Two. Zero. It's kinda funny how once you reach this age, anybody below 19 seems way too young, and people you know who are in their twenty-somethings, are really not that old.
I'm watching Project Runway and there's this flamboyant designer who's 21 years old. A few weeks ago I didn't mind it, but when my birthday came, we are only one year apart. o_O

So what have I done for "celebration"? Other than buy LOTS of JUNK FOOD (i.e. swiss cake, cookies, two pints of Ben & Jerry's), I haven't done anything today. Wednesdays are my worst days, being in class from 9:30am to 9:20pm, and the fact that my World Civ final and Sophomore Survey is approaching does not help. But the text messages, the calls from friends, and the aim messages of birthday greetings totally made up the lack of my celebration =)
Well in a way I made it up last Friday: I travel to Times Square, FAO Schwartz and the Disney Store for some early Christmas Shopping. Sigh, despite the cold weather it was SO comforting to live the feeling of buying stuff without thinking. Something I've been deprived of for so long.
What I've also been deprived of is how AWESOME that DISNEY STORE is! I literally held my breath from the overwhelming toys, and holiday spirit in the air. I have pictures yet to share.
Which reminds me, I have been taking manymanymany pictures, but of course the longer I haven't been writing, the pictures I have yet to post keep piling up...so sometime I'll be posting one huge-ass entry with all pictures. Hoorah.

::Wednesday, October 31, 2007::
Happy Halloween everyone! The only time when it is OKAY to dress up as a whore and get away with it. ^_~ Im sure most of you enjoyed knocking on strangers' doors and trick-or-treating in your costumes. I definitely know I didn't.
It would've been awesome if I observed this years Halloween Parade inthe East Vlllage. That's the time I see the real creative/quirky side of New York teens, costumes ranging from famous people, to myspace profiles, pregnant nuns, sushi, and buttered toast.
Last year there was a HORDE of Jedi fighters waving their lightsabers [not figuratively ><]. This year I'm hoping about 300 close friends were smart enough to band together and become Spartan Warriors. That would be hot.
But no, Typography ends at 9:20pm, about two and a half hours late. Damn.

So how's life since I last wrote? Well, when you spend about 18 hours a day on Mac designing, the days go by in a haze. You ever hear stories of Korean kids dying from spending 48+ hours nonstop online? I always scoff at those incidents, but now it doesn't sound too impossible, because one way or another you are able to kill six hours with a few clicks of the mouse.

That's one part of technology I am slighty annoyed with. I'm so adjusted to getting information precisely when I need them and windows of "entertainment" flashing everywhere, that I've become restless if I'm sitting still. I was home last Tuesday, and with Monika not around to annoy, I just played Wii and stayed on my laptop; the alternative I could think of was sitting down on the couch, staring at the living room. Whatever happened to reading a book? Taking a long walk without being plugged into the Ipod? Setting aside time to just...breathe? It's like being pulled away from mother nature and getting sucked into the whirlpool of the world wide web. Ah, it would be nice if I could refrain for at least one week from the computer....then I'd be skipping about 5 projects and I'll get yelled at. Bleh.
And do you think me a hypocrite for posting this on a webpage and not writing it down? Don't worry I did.

Alright now it's officially November and I have actual internet errands to run =/. If the rest of my year continues to be like this, don't be suprised to find me pale and worn-out, my soul digitally sucked out.

::Monday, October 1, 2007::
With my first official entry as a college sophomore, I (finally) give you a new layout. It's inspired by Pan's Labyrinth, Ted Hughes' "Wodwo", and my last Photography project. If you are using Safari, the background for my text is slightly discolored. I don't know why and it's getting me annoyed, but the colors match when using Internet Explorer. If I find a spare moment, and if I am up to the task, I'd fix the problem. Otherwise, I'm not too anal about it and neither should you.

So...week 5 is about to begin, and how's my life so far taking graphic design-related courses? Not. Easy.
Monday mornings begin with World Civilizations. The room humidity and the lack of coffee and Nekola's soothing voice contribute to my constant nodding off. At noon I have Design Procedures, a class that's designed to teach you all the Adobe programs and preparations we'd need to use for our other classes. Learning Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Indesign are easy enough, thanks to Iannuzzi.
Tuesday is Visual Communications, a class that drives me crazy because the projects are challenging and its VERY time consuming to think of ideas. I'll be more specific on some of the projects later. Next is Digital Photography, and thank God our teacher is very understanding and laid back. My one complaint is the damn lab fees we have to pay just to use the dark room and their expensive inkjet printers.
Wednesday starts with Illustration, which is my favorite class. As the course title implies there's a lot more drawing involved and I feel I have a much easier time being creative. After a three hour break I have Comm Imaging, which is basically a photography class but we are required to emulate our style and layout to "TRACE" magazine. Afterwards is Typography. Bleh. Hate it. Tracing Typefaces and being very meticulous of the stroke thickness and kerning each letter is not fun.
Thursdays I have off, working all day with Peggy at America Reads. Sometimes I think working the entire day is a good idea. Sometimes I think it's not.
Friday is History of art 19th Century. While this Professor is nowhere near as good as my awesome Art history professor last year, Longwell has very good humor and creates humorous sound effects.

With eight classes on my shoulders, I could spend hours and HOURS just for one class (most likely Vis Comm or Typography) and don't have much time to go out and enjoy the city. I'm suprised my eyeballs haven't sunken to the back of my head yet from staying on the computer 24/7, but I'm sure my vision has worsen. (I shouldn't complain, because I know the Animation people spend way more time on the computer).

The things that keep me going are my beloved TV shows (House MD, Family Guy, The Office, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends <3 <3), call from the family and friends, Ben and Jerry's, Starbucks, and church. Without them, I'd be a bigger mess than I already am right now. I'd be catastrophic.

Alright I've delayed enough on my study, and I must continue on....
You also keep me going, ya know? =)